I frown upon dubbing as much as the next fan, but I like the Cromartie dub. Not as much as the original voices, mind you, but I think it works.posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 5:29 AM on January 20, 2011

These are pretty hilarious. The Denial clip also shows off the satirical nature of the show, totally parodying the style it at first seems to be emulating. It was hard to tell because it's played so straight.posted by Eideteker at 5:39 AM on January 20, 2011

I'm usually pretty snobby out dubbing, but I have to say the dub for Cromartie is actually really well done - in this case I even prefer it to the original. It's also just about the funniest anime out there.posted by Drexen at 6:02 AM on January 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Hey, this is the kind of thing that not only applies in the world of delinquents, but in the real world as well!posted by MrVisible at 6:06 AM on January 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

Although, you know, the series is licensed in the West -- if you want to support the creators and encourage more of this sort of thing, you could(/should) buy the DVD...posted by Drexen at 6:18 AM on January 20, 2011 [4 favorites]

I love all the self-referential meta-humor. "How did I end up at this school for delinquents? READ THE MANGA"

This is good. Thanks, lemuring. How did I miss this one? I am one episode away from buying the DVDs.

I too am a dub snob. I prefer subtitles and extra subtitles to explain to me why a joke is funny since I know next to nothing about Japanese culture. Seriously, I do.

FLCL, Paranoia Agent and Azumanga Daioh were the 1-2-3 punch that got me back into anime after over a decade of blissful ignorance. I am sure a lot of good anime was made before the internet, but I sure wasn't getting any of it easily here in America.

Thank you! I was wondering where I heard this before.posted by chemoboy at 8:27 AM on January 20, 2011

I prefer subtitles and extra subtitles to explain to me why a joke is funny since I know next to nothing about Japanese culture. Seriously, I do.

I could see that--one time while living in Japan I was over at the apartment of a guy I worked with who was really into Dragonball. He had a few Dragonball figurines on the coffee table and since I was unfamiliar with them, he was explaining them to me.

Me:"Who's this old guy then?"

DB:"That's Master Roshi. He's an old pervert and when he sees a young girl he likes his nose bleeds"

Me: "..."

Apparently in manga, nosebleeds occur when you're aroused. So now you know.posted by Hoopo at 9:05 AM on January 20, 2011

Cromartie makes me think of a really athletic cornerback with terrible technique who hates to tackle.posted by nathancaswell at 9:29 AM on January 20, 2011

Yeah, the spontaneous arousal nosebleed is a pretty common device in manga and anime.

Regarding dubs and subs: one issue that seems to come up a lot is "localization", i.e., trying to translate a Japanese cultural reference into something equivalent in the West. It's a matter of contention that many fans disagree with - some are OK with a reference to some obscure Japanese political leader translated to "Warren Harding", while others feel this is confusing - why would these Japanese kids reference Warren Harding, after all?

On the other hand, you have series like Pani Poni Dash!, which were so full of references to Japanese pop culture that the subtitles had footnotes. You needed to pause the episode now and then to read what the references were about.

Of course localization can get out of hand, such as when sub groups decide to be funny and translate dialogue into internet memes from their favorite imageboards (e.g., seeing characters say things like "come at me, bro!" and such).

Dubs tend to localize more than subs, of course, but I think in either case, I think it's important to strike a balance between "localize everything; people don't like to pause and Google" and "localize nothing; including a 50-page booklet of annotations".posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 9:29 AM on January 20, 2011

The thing I like about Cromartie is it transcends Japanese culture in its humor. One can relate to a lot of the jokes they make despite not having -any- idea of what Japanese culture is like.

I think part of this is due to the excellent dubbing that was done for the series, but the humor is also very modern. The creators of the series seem to have a wide range of influences that span from East to West.posted by lemuring at 10:18 AM on January 20, 2011

The thing I like most about Cromartie High is how easy it is to describe to people. "Freddie Mercury is a main character and there's a gorilla."posted by cmoj at 10:55 AM on January 20, 2011

I haven't seen it, but I was under the impression that the dub of the anime was intentionally a lot more over the top than the actual show. Was I wrong?posted by flatluigi at 11:41 AM on January 20, 2011

The main cultural reference in Cromartie is the existence of who knows how many comics/cartoons with similar setup and art but that take themselves absolutely seriously. But I think it's pretty easy to figure that out, and "we are dumber than a gorilla" is not a subtle, postmodern gag in any case.

Same author had another pretty good series a couple of years ago called "Town of the future" or something that was similar in tone but had surreally half-assed art.posted by No-sword at 1:40 PM on January 20, 2011

Dubbing doesn't bother me in anime since well, ALL animation is dubbing. As long as it's dubbed well I think it's so much more enjoyable than subtitles.

But I've never enjoyed dubbing in a live action show. There's just no way out of that uncanny valley.posted by jnrussell at 2:17 PM on January 20, 2011

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